VMH(1) VMH(1)
NAME
vmh - visual front-end to nmh
SYNOPSIS
vmh [-prompt string] [-vmhproc program] [-novmhproc]
[switches for vmhproc] [-version] [-help]
DESCRIPTIONvmh is a program which implements the server side of the
nmh window management protocol and uses curses (3) rou-
tines to maintain a split-screen interface to any program
which implements the client side of the protocol. This
latter program, called the vmhproc, is specified using the
`-vmhproc program' switch.
The upshot of all this is that one can run msh on a dis-
play terminal and get a nice visual interface. To do
this, for example, just add the line
mshproc: vmh
to your .mh_profile. (This takes advantage of the fact
that msh is the default vmhproc for vmh.)
In order to facilitate things, if the `-novmhproc' switch
is given, and vmh can't run on the user's terminal, the
vmhproc is run directly without the window management pro-
tocol.
After initializing the protocol, vmh prompts the user for
a command to be given to the client. Usually, this
results in output being sent to one or more windows. If a
output to a window would cause it to scroll, vmh prompts
the user for instructions, roughly permitting the capabil-
ities of less or more (e.g., the ability to scroll back-
wards and forwards):
SPACE advance to the next windowful
RETURN * advance to the next line
y * retreat to the previous line
d * advance to the next ten lines
u * retreat to the previous ten lines
g * go to an arbitrary line
(preceed g with the line number)
G * go to the end of the window
(if a line number is given, this acts like `g')
CTRL-L refresh the entire screen
h print a help message
q abort the window
(A `*' indicates that a numeric prefix is meaningful for
this command.)
Note that if a command resulted in more than one window's
worth of information being displayed, and you allow the
command which is generating information for the window to
gracefully finish (i.e., you don't use the `q' command to
abort information being sent to the window), then vmh will
give you one last change to peruse the window. This is
useful for scrolling back and forth. Just type `q' when
you're done.
To abnormally terminate vmh (without core dump), use
<QUIT> (usually CTRL-\). For instance, this does the
"right" thing with bbc and msh.
^$HOME/.mh_profile~^The user profile ^Path:~^To determine
the user's nmh directory msh(1) `-prompt (vmh) '
`-vmhproc msh' None The argument to the `-prompt' switch
must be interpreted as a single token by the shell that
invokes vmh. Therefore, one must usually place the argu-
ment to this switch inside double-quotes.
At present, there is no way to pass signals (e.g., inter-
rupt, quit) to the client. However, generating QUIT when
vmh is reading a command from the terminal is sufficient
to tell the client to go away quickly.
Acts strangely (loses peer or botches window management
protocol with peer) on random occasions.
[nmh-0.27] MH.6.8 1